IUCN as part of The Global Water Initiative (GWI) has carried vulnerability assessment training across four countries in East Africa – Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. The training uses the tools such as Climate Vulnerability and Capacity Analysis (CVCA) developed by CARE; and CRiSTAL (Community-based Risk Screening Tool - Adaptation and Livelihoods) produced by IUCN, IISD, SEI and Intercoperation.

GWI is ‘ensuring that vulnerable populations world-wide have reliable access to clean water in such a way that their dignity, rights, culture and natural environment are not negatively impacted’.

During the training sessions, community members participated in identifying climatic hazards, the impacts of these hazards and defining the coping strategies they use to deal with the impacts. They also brainstormed on alternative coping strategies and the resources needed to put them in place.

The trained facilitators then went on to analyze the information to assess whether a project is climate proof and what adaptation approaches could be implemented to reduce vulnerability to climate change.

The Global Water Initiative (GWI) is funded by Howard G. Buffet Foundation and is implemented across three regions: Eastern Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda), Western Africa (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Niger, and Senegal) and Central America (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua). Organizations currently involved in the initiative are Action against Hunger, CARE, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Oxfam America and SOS Sahel.

In Eastern Africa cluster, the initiative is referred to as ‘GWI Running Dry’ coordinated from a Regional Office based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (housed by CARE International in Ethiopia). One of the objectives in the region is for vulnerable rural communities and their environments to have increased resilience to water-related shocks.

For more information, please contact emmanuel.mwendera@iucn.org and Katharine.cross@iucn.org